


Be good to everyone!

by FreakingOutGirl



Series: Son of a Exy! [8]
Category: All For The Game - Nora Sakavic
Genre: Andrew and Neil are away playing, Exy, F/M, Luke is defensive, M/M, World Championship, even nicky through skype, luke doesn't like stupid people, luke is staying with matt and dan, matt's buddies are kind of stupid, neil josten defense squad, the foxes are reunited
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-28
Updated: 2017-05-28
Packaged: 2018-11-06 02:19:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,799
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11026548
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FreakingOutGirl/pseuds/FreakingOutGirl
Summary: Neil and Andrew are away in qualification matches for the World Championship with the National team, so Luke stays with Matt and Dan. When having a viewing party for the last game,  some of Matt's colleagues show that they are not fans of Neil and Luke has to be the president of Neil Josten's Defense Squad.





	Be good to everyone!

“Luke, are you okay?”

Dan’s voice echoed from the kitchen, while Luke stared at the TV, waiting for the Exy segment of the sports news.

“Luke?” Dan called again, this time her head following her voice to peek at the young boy currently glued to the couch.

“Hum?” Luke replied non-committedly, without even looking at her.

“Are you okay?” Dan moved from the kitchen to actually look at the boy. He was always talkative around them, cracking stupid jokes and being a sarcastic smart-ass, however, for the first time since Dan met him, he was actually quiet for most part of the time.

“What’s happening?” Matt asked from the doorway, his arms holding a baby and a toddler grabbing his leg. He looked from Dan to Luke and approached the pair. “Is everything alright? You are so quiet, Luke…”

Luke looked at the TV once again and made a shushing sound when an Exy court appeared on the screen. He pointed the remote at the TV and turned up the volume.

“And in Exy lands, we have today the last qualifying game for the World Championship, USA vs Spain. It’s not news to anyone that USA has one of the strongest teams in the world, a lot of it thanks to these four gentlemen, that some of their contenders started calling the Horsemen of the Apocalypse…” one of the commentators  said.

“Well, I don’t know what you think, but I can’t exactly imagine Knox and Day as that, while Minyard and Josten are probably proud of that nickname…” the other analyst smirked at that.

“Yes, luckily for us, those four are actually beasts on court. Did you see that last defense, Minyard did in his game last week? Gosh, I was certain it would enter… He is an incredible acquisition for the USA court, especially when you think he actually denied the first time they asked…”

“Makes you wonder why they asked a second time and why he accepted…”

“You didn’t hear it from me, but maybe Josten had something to do with it… They are incredibly close and maybe playing with him again had some kind of appeal… Now that they are in the same team as well, they are probably getting tired of each other…” the guy chuckled, like he really didn’t believe that.

“But the national team is not only made of those four, let’s see some of the stats on the entire team…”

Luke stopped listening after that. He knew all the info already, after hearing Neil and Kevin parroting it for the last couple of weeks, while Andrew tried to ignore them and crush Luke in Mario Kart. Jeremy had become a visitor of their household as well, but with less frequency than Kevin, to his old man’s relieve. There were so much Exy players he could deal with.

“I get it…” Dan said, softly and Luke turned to face her. “You miss them…”

Luke grumbled under his breath and crossed his arms in front of his chest.

“Neil, I understand… now how can someone miss Andrew, it still baffles me…” Matt said and Luke glared at him with an evil eye. “Jeez, kid, get down a notch on the death stare! I was joking! Damn, you are way too much like him…” Matt entered the kitchen, in search of something for him and the kids around him and let Dan and Luke to themselves.

“You know why they can’t take you, right?” Dan asked, sitting beside him on the couch.

“I’m not a little kid, I understand…” Luke huffed, even if his cheeks were blushing. “They are not authorized to bring family members while playing qualification matches and only when they reach the final they can take family to stay with them in the same hotel…” Luke parroted the words that Neil had said to him more than once.

Luke wondered if Neil wanted to assure Luke or himself. When they played in different teams, Luke would stay with either of them or in a rare case with one of his friends, now that they were on the same team they would try to fly back the same day, take Luke with them if it didn’t mess with school or let him stay with someone, be it a school friend or one of the Foxes that volunteered. But those times were usually a one-day thing and this time, for the qualification rounds they were away almost three weeks. And after those weeks without his parents close to him, it was taking a toll bigger than Luke could imagine. Since it was summer vacation, he kept himself, during his long free time, glued to the TV and the computer, drinking in every news about his parents, how the game went, critics’ reviews and repetitions of plays, everything that could make him feel closer to them.

 Not even the nightly Skype sessions they kept could help him fill that stupid, surreal void inside of him. It was not like he didn’t have a life before knowing Neil and Andrew… it just wasn’t all that great of a life or really worth remembering… but with those two lunatics he built a home and now, in Dan’s and Matt’s living room, it felt so far away, he was afraid he wouldn’t be able of finding it again.

* * *

 

With the time of the game approaching, the Boyd household started filling up with Matt’s teammates, Dan’s trainees and the rest of the Foxes, even Aaron, brought begrudgingly by a glowing Katelyn. Nicky’s spot was occupied by a computer facing the TV, so his face could be directly in front of the screen, during the Skype call.

Luke was used to boisterous Exy players on court, however, seeing so much of them in a single living room was kind of a new experience, until he felt the calming presence of Renee beside him and he took a deep breath. The Foxes were his family, he was used to them, but the rest were new and Luke had a hard time warming up to new people, especially when they started betting if his old man would punch Kevin in the face if he missed a shot.

“Luckily, Kevin is better than you, or else he would actually have to be punched in the face…” Luke grumbled behind the much bigger players and they turned around and had to look down to face him.

“And you are?” one of Matt’s friends asked and Luke glared at him, until Matt sensed the trouble, probably from all those years around Neil and jumped into the group, with an arm around Luke’s shoulder.

“Hey, hey… no fight in here, Luke! I don’t want the coach to kill me if you break any of those guys’ ego…” Matt laughed openly and the tension dissipated, until one of the laughing guys spoke again.

“We can only pray for a miracle! It’s Josten first year, hopefully he won’t crack under pressure and blow this up for us! He is way too young to be Court! I bet it was because he was friends with Day and Minyard…”

Matt tensed when he felt Luke move under his arm. _Oh oh, he so didn’t speak ill of Neil in front of Luke…_

“The fuck are you saying?!” Luke’s loud voice carried over the living room and everyone fell silent in shock. He could see Aaron trying to peek over shoulders to find out what was going on and Dan’s eyes frozen in those guys’ backs. “Do you call yourself an Exy player? Don’t you know the stats? Neil Josten in currently the second best striker in the USA Court, only behind Kevin Day by a goal! He has 90% accuracy and when the shot is sent from the goalkeeper he scores 93% of the time! He has less injuries than the rest of the team and was carded only once during a Court game, because he was defending a teammate! He is the first one to get in the court and the last one to leave! Do you know he has an office full of stats from every team he ever faced? That he goes over it repeatedly before a game? That he learned a bunch of other languages and keeps up by reading the national teams’ stats? Well, if you don’t know any of this, I pity you, because you are a fucking idiot for even talking about him!” Luke was breathing deeply when he finished, while everyone around him was shocked into silence.

“Okay, what the hell is going on?!” Nicky’s voice came from the computer and it was enough for Luke to realize what he just did, but before he could actually say anything else, Nicky continued. “Allison, tell me you recorded this! I need to see Neil’s reaction to his son acting all knight in shining armor to defend his honor!”

“Son?!” the player that talked about Neil looked at Luke surprised and tried to apologize.

“Forget it…” Luke said, moving around people that were still frozen, looking at him.

He climbed to the roof, where he sat with his phone next to him, two texts in there the only thing in his mind.

_Thirty minutes to go, Luke. I hope we can make you proud! Be good to everyone!_

_Pest, do not kill anyone tonight, we won’t be able to bail you out since we will be winning a game._

When, thirty minutes later, he heard everyone quiet inside the house, he decided it was time to reenter it. He walked into the living room, ignoring everyone and sat beside Allison, that reflexively, put an arm over his shoulder and squeezed.

“Good boy!” she whispered and he smiled at her words.

 

* * *

 

 

The next day, the Foxes took Luke to the airport to welcome his parents. The place was already full of fans carrying posters of the team and jerseys of their favorite players.

Luke had a Foxes jersey on, one that read Minyard-Josten on the back. In front of him, he had a big poster still closed between his hands, waiting for the right moment to appear. He knew his old man wouldn’t let him live after seeing it, but he was ready for the biggest humiliation of his life.

When cameras started shooting and people started screaming, the now qualified players started strolling out. Andrew and Neil were some of the last to appear, with Kevin and Thea right on front with Jeremy, already talking to the press.

When Andrew and Neil found Luke and the Foxes in the crowd, Luke opened the poster and Neil actually blushed while Andrew’s eyes squinted a bit behind his glasses.

An “I <3 Minyard and Josten” could be seen in all it’s New York t-shirt-like splendor glory. 

 


End file.
